Underskirt.



No. smaz. Patented Apr. 2, IBM. E. E. ELLIOTT.

UNB-EBSKIRT.

(Application filed Dem 19. 1900.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD ELLIOTT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

UNDERSKIRT'.

SPECIFIGATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 671,132, dated April 2,1901.

Application filed December 19, 1900. Serial No. 40,346. (No model.)

To all whom, it Inay concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD E. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented a new and usefullmprovement in Underskirts, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in underskirts, with the objectin View of providing a skirt which may be adjusted to fit varying sizesof waists and which will at all times, whatever its adjustments, fitsmoothly over the body of the wearer and permit a free movementof thebody when in use.

Experience has proved that it is eminently desirable to have a skirtfitted to the waist without elastic pressure, the latter tending tointerfere with free circulation and becoming exceedingly annoying to thewearer, because of its constant hugging pressure. At the same time it isdesirable that the body of the wearer should not be positively confinedthroughout any considerable extent by a deep non-yielding waistband. Theobject of my present invention is to combine these desirable features Ofa waistband which may be adj usted to the form of the wearer with thegreatest nicety and yet without a constant hugging pressure and whichwill yield throughout a considerable extent to accommodate the movementsof the body when in use.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a view of the upper portionof the skirt in rear elevation with the sections of the waistband intheir normal positions. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the waistband andupper portion of the skirt, showing the positions of thewaistband-sections when for any cause strain is exerted upon the lowerpart of the waistband or yoke. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of thewaistband or yoke; and Fig. 4 is an inside View of the waistband andupper portion of the skirt, the said waistband being opened at the backand its ends separated a considerable distance.

My invention consists, briefly stated, in a skirt provided with awaistband having elastic gores inserted in its lower edge extendingtoward the upper edge of the waistband, but

not entirely across it, the said openings in the waistband for receivingthe elastic gores being bridged by fulled portions of the upper edge ofthe skirt to permit the elastic gores to become distended when strain isapplied thereto; and more specifically my invention consists in asectional waistband or yoke provided with means at the adjacent ends ofthe several sections for positively adjusting the waistband or yoke todiiferent sizes, the said waistband or yoke being further provided withone or more elastic gores inserted in its -lower edge and bridgedbyfulled portions of the skirt attached to and depending from the saidyoke or waistband.

In the form in which I have illustrated my invention the waistband oryoke is formed in three sections, a front section, (denoted by a,)extending from hip to hip around the front and two back sections(denoted, respectively, by b and 0) each extendingfrom the hip portionto the center of the back. The opposite ends of the back sections 1) care connected with the opposite ends of the front section a by somesuitable fastening device for adjusting the ends of the front and backsections nearer to or farther away from each other, in the presentinstance by means of lacings d, extending back and forth through eyeletse, placed on the meeting ends of the front and back sections, and thesaid sections are further connected loosely by means of soft interposedpieces of fabric f and g, having sufficient fullness to permit thesections a, b, and c to be adjusted the desired distance apart to extendthe size of the waistband Or yoke. The adjacent ends of the backsections band 0 are provided with some suitable fasteningas, forexample, buttons and buttonholes h t, as is usual. The back sections 1)and o are in the present instance each provided with an'elastic gore,(denoted, respectively, by j 7%) which extends in the present instancefrom the lower edge of the yoke or waistband to a point near the upperedge, but leaving a sufficient amount of the waistband or yoke intact toadjust it positively to the size required. The space exterior to thegores is filled by a fulled soft fabric Z, and the skirt m, dependingfrom the bottom of the waistband or yoke, is fulled, as shown at n, tocorrespond to the fullness of the soft interposed pieces connecting theends of the front sections with the ends of the back sections.

The skirt with its Waistband or yoke constructed as above may beadjusted to differ-' ent sizes Within reasonable limits and =positi velyheld at the determined size so far as the upper edge of the waistband oryoke is concerned, while a deep flaring waistband or i yoke may beemployed to cause a smooth set of the skirt over the hips of the wearer,and at the same time the said deep waistband or 2 yoke will be permittedto yield along its upper and central portions to the varying movementsof the body of the wearer, the skirt itself depending from the waistbandor yoke, being free to accommodate itself to the extended or contractedconditions of the lower portions of the said waistband oryoke.

What I claim isv 1. An underskirt provided with a waistband having itsupper portion non-elastic and its lower portion elastic, the said skirtbeing attached to the Waistband in fulled form at the point where theelastic is inserted, sub- I stantially as set forth.

2. A skirt provided with a sectional waistband or yoke having its upperportion nonelastic "and its lower portion elastic, means for adjustingthe ends of the sections toward 1 and away from each other to diminishor increase the fiXed size of the upper portion of the Waistband oryoke, the skirt depending from the Waistband or yoke being fulledintermediate of the sections and at the points Where the elastic isinserted to accommodate itself to the adjustments and yielding of thewaistband or yoke, substantially as set forth.

3. A skirt provided with a sectional waistband or yoke, means foradjusting the sections toward and away from each other to diminish orincrease the size of the waistband or yoke, the said Waistband or yokebeing provided With elastic gores inserted in its lower edge While theupper portion of the Waistband remains non-elastic and the body of theskirt depending from the waistband or yoke being fulled opposite theelastic gores and, at the meeting ends of the sections to accommodate EDWVARD E. ELLIOTT.

Vitnesses:

LoUIs Ross, DANIEL M. ELLIOTT.

